Gas-gun.



I No. 874,952. P TENTBD-DEO. s1, 1907v W. s. FRANKLIN.

GAS GUN.

APPLICATION TILED FEB 19, 1907.

l 1 2 SHEETS-SHEETl.

WITNESSES //v|/5/v me PATENTED DEC. 31, 1907. W. s. FRANKLIN,

:"GAS GUN. APPLICATION r1131) m. 19, 1907.

nll n h W/ TNE SSE S v To all whom it may concern:

WILLIIAM, SUDDARDS FRANKLIN, or BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.

GAS-GUN.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM SUDnARDs FRANKLIN, of Bethelem, in the county of Northampton and in the State ofPennsylvania, have invented a certain new andnseful Improvement in Gas-Guns, and do herebydec are that the following is a full, clear, and

exact description thereof, reference being had to the'accompanying drawings, in which- I Figurel is a vertical, sectional view, in the direction of the lengthof thegun, of a gas 'gun apparatus embodying-my invention;

Fig. 2 1s a similar View in a direction trans verse to the plane of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a 2 0 Which gun, ,while being cheap in construcplan view, partly'in' section, 'of the breech plate, gas nozzle, and spark-forming parts of thegun'. V

The object of my invention has been to provide a toy gun in which a mixture of acetylene and air is lighted by electricity,

tion, shall ,be efficient and certain in its opeatlon and to such ends my invention consists in the gasgun hereinafter specified.

supportwhen the apparatus is in use.

In carrying my invention into practice I preferably provide a box 'which serves as a convenient receptacle to hold the parts of the apparatus in shipment, or when notin use, and which also serves as a -convenient The gun 11 has grooved trunnions 12 which rest in notches formed in the side-plates 13 of the gun carriage, the said side-plates being connected by ,a base-plate 14, which latter has flanges 15 at its ends that rest upon the sides of the'box. The carriage is preferably made by punching and bending a single sheet of metal.

. The gun preferably consists of a cast body whose rear end is closed by a breech-plate 16,

the breech-plate being preferably formed of sheet metal and having-a screwrthread formed therein by which it can be engagedby a screw-thread formed on the rear end of the gun. The-parts of the gun which form the spark that ignites the mixture of air and 7 gas to be used in the gun, and. also the gas 11oz .5Q I inspection in case of -difliculty. The parts zle for admittinggas to the gun, are referably attached to the breech-plate, an they can thus be readily removed from the gun for for formingthe spark, which are shown enlarged in Fig. 3, comprise a stationary binding-post 17 and a movable binding-post 1-8. 5

screw 19 that is clamped to the, breech-plat The stationary binding-post consists of ;a

Specificationof Letters Patent.

Application filed February 19, 1907. Serial No. 358.256

tl1e .;binding-post 18 and into l-faten ted flee. 31, 1907. i

p nuts 20 and 21, the sbrew being insulated from the plate by Washers 22. "A spring 23.

isJclamped between the head of the screw 19 and a nut 24. This springext 5 'toward he I path of moyirlement of the head of its Screw 25. The

scrfeliy -has an unthreaded portion ofits shankjguided in a block 26 that is fastened in a h la in the breech-plate, andaspring 27 tends to thrust the screw into the gun. Movement into the gun is limited by a' nut 28 secured on the screw. The screw 25 has a thumb-nut 29 bywhieh it may be drawn back and forth, the thumb-nut clamping the battery-wire 30 against thenut 28. venience a lanyard 31 is tied .to the nut 29,

For conin order that the screwv 25 may bedrawn back against the stress of the spring 27." The screw 19 has a thumb-nut 32 by which the battery-wire 33 may be clamped against the Y nut 20. The battery-wires 30 and 33 are connected with the poles of a battery 34, one

of such connections being through a sparkcoil' 35. When the lanyard is pulled, the head of the screw 25 bears against the spring.

23, and, as such spring snaps free, a spark is produced. On releasing the lanyard, the head of the screw again passes the spring and another spark is rodueed.

Gas is preferab y supplied to the. gun in the following manner. Within the box 10 is.

mounted the lower cup 36 of a gas generator, 7

the central portion of the bottom of'the cup being bulged up at 37 for a purpose to be de scribed. Within the cup 36 is an inverted upper cup 38 having a central tube 39 ex; i i

tending nearly but not quite to the level of the lower edge of the'upper cup. A nipple 40 is secured to the top of the inverted cup,

and a tube 41 extends from such nipple to the V f tube 42 of the gas nozzle on the breech-plate of the gun. The gas nozzle consists 'of a body 43 that is riveted in the breech-plate,

and that has a'bottom in which is riveted or Within the" mouth of the'body 43 is secured a perforated plate 44, the plate being conveniently secureclin place by spinning. or bending-over otherwise secured the nipple 42.

the edge 45 of the nozzle; In order tocontrol the flow of gas through the tube 41, such tube passes through an opening 46 formed in roe one of the side-platesof the carriage, and the 1 tube is pinched between a lip 47 turned up in I the forming of the said opening, and a spring 48 that-is secured to the side plate by lips'49 whichare punched out of the said plate and be discharged.

bent over it. A lip -18 maybe punched out of the side-plate 12 and bent-over the spring 48 to hold it against the sideplate. The end of the spring 48 extends beyond the sideplate to form a handle.

in the operation of mygas gun, a lump of calcium carbid is dropped through the tube 30, and, striking the bulge 237, is deflected laterally from beneath the said tube, so that the gas generated will not escape up the said tube. The gas rises into the upper part of the inverted cup and raises the said cup, so that the weight of the cup puts it underpres sure. When the spring 48 is depressed, gas is permitted to pass through the tube 41 to the gas nozzle, and escapes into the body of the gun. The perforations in the plate [4 cause the gas to esrape in nun'ierous small streams, aml thus to thoroughly intcrminglc with the air in the gun. Either before or at ter the admission of gas to the gun, as may be desired, a cork .30 may be inserted into the mouth of the gun. The gun is now ready to Upon pulling the lan \'ard, contact is lirst made and then broken between the spring 23 and the head of the screw 25, and thus the electric circuit is completed and then suddenly broken, and this, assisted by the action of the spark-coil, causes a sulliciently strong spark to be formed in the gun to explode the mixture of air and gas in the gun.

It will be observed that my apparatus constitutes an extremely attractive toy for the followingreasons: ltmakes a loudnoise.. it is perfectly harmless. l have found that the llaine from the gun will neither ignite thin tissue paper, nor burn the skin. \Vhile it does throw the cork projectile, it does not throw it with sutlicient force to do any harm, and it will not throw a heavy projectile more than a very short distance. This, of course, is because the explosion is so quick that it does not have time to give energy to a projectile, and it is a quality directly the reverse oi what is desired for military purposes. While acetylene is slow to diffuse itself through the air in the gun if admitted in a single stream, my gas nozzle overcomes this dilliculty and causes a good mixture that readily explodes. l'havc found by long experience that the acetylene generator used is so safe. that it is extremely unlikely thatitshould explode, and that, when it hasexploded, the only result is to throw out the. upper cup, and that without enough force tocause injury. ()n the other hand, i have found that with the best form 0!" hydrogengenerator I could devise, there was serious danger of explosion, and that when an exph sion occurred there was great liability to injury, both from the l'orce oi" the explosion and from the necessity of using glass in the generator. The toy presents a considerable variety of interesting and instructive phegas generator, connected to. said gun, a stanomena in physics and chemistry forthe instruction of the child.

While l have described what I consider to be the best embodiment of my invention,,I am aware I ha t the invention can be embodied in many di'tlerent forms, and .i do not desire to be limited to the specilic construction which vl have described.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim:

1. in a toy, the combination of a gt1n-body having a thread on its rear end, a breechplate'having a thread adapted to engage the thread of the gun-body, a gas nozzle and an igniter apparatus carried by said breechplatc, and a gas generator connected with sa'id nozzle.

2. .111 a toy, the combination of a gun-body open at both ends, a breeelnplatc adapted to be secured to the rear end of the gun-body, an igniter and a gas nozzle carried by said plate, and a gas generator connected with said nozzle.

3. In a toy, the combination of a gun, a

tionary binding-post on said gun and having a projection within said gun, said bindinglust being connected with a battery, asccond bindingpost haring a spring within saidgun, said binding-post being also connected with said battery, one of said connections lnljvin a spark-coil therein, and means for moving said projection across the path of said spring to produce sparks in the gun for exploding the gas.

4. in a toy, the combination of a gun, a headed rod projecting into said gun and having a spring between its head and the gun, adapted to thrust the rod inward, means outside of the gun-by which the rod can be.105 drawn outward, a spring mounted within thegun in the path of said head, a battery, to the poles of which said spring and headed rod are respectively connected, at spark-coil inter posed in the circuit thus for1ned',-a gas gen crater, and a connection between said generator and. the gunfor introducing gas into the gun.

In a toy, the combination of a. gun, a. gas generator connected to'said gun, a bindmg post on said un-having a. re ection within the gun, ant connected to a attery, a binding-post on said gun havin a s ring withih the gun, and connected with sai battery, one of said connections having a sparkcoil therein, and means for causing a relative movement between said spring andsaid projection" to produce sparking in the gun, for exploding the gas.

6. In a toy, the combination of a gumbody 12!; open at both ends, a breech-plate removably" closing one end of the gun, a rod fixedly mounted in said breech-plate and projecting into the gun, a spring secured to the inner end of said rod. a headed rod extending into the gun through a guide on said plate, a

spring interposed between the head of said rod and said guide, said head being adapted v Y l to engage said inst-mentioned spring, an,

. eleetrie circuit comprising a spark-coil eon IlCt'lttl with said rods, and means for introduemg gas into the gun.

7. in a toy, the eomb nation of a gun-body hav ng tlllllHlOllS, av gun-earriage -onsistmg ot side-plates and a base. plate lormed ol sheet metal, gas get rator, a tube eonneeting said gas generator with the interior of the gun, an opening formed in said carriage, said tube extending through said opening, and a spring adapted to pineh said tube against a side ol said opening to vent rol the How ol'gas.

.8. ln a toy, the eombination of a gun-body liming trunnions, a gun- 'ttllltlgt! consisting oi side-plates and a base-plate l'ormed of sheet metal, a gas generator, a tube eonneeting said gas generator with the interior ol' the gun, an opening vl'orined in said earriage by punt-hing up a lip, said tube extending llliuttg'll. said opening,

the [low olgas. I

,t). in a toy, the eombination ot' a gun-body ha in; trnnnions, a, gun-earriage t-onsisting ol sidtplates and a base-plate l'ormed ol sheet metal. a gas generator. a tube t'ollitetiing said gas generatorwit h the interior at the gun, an opening formed in said earriage by anda spring adapted j to pineh said tube against said hp to eontrol'= punching up a lip, said tube extending through said opening, a-nd a spring adapted to pinch said tube against said lip to control 35 the flow of gas, said spring consisting of a wire, said wire being secured to said carriage by ears punched up out of the sheet metal and bent over said wire.

It). in a toy, the Combination of a gun hav- '40 ing trunnions, a guu-earriage for supporting said gun, a gas generator eonneet'ed with the gun, an eleetrie igniter within. the gun, a batter for operating said igniter, a box for coning said parts, and llanges on said earriage 55 that are adapted to rest on .the edgesof said boxand support said gun.

In testimony that I elaim the l'oregoing I ha \e hereunto set my hand. 

